Rumors On Mandela's Health Hurt The Rand

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The South African rand took a pounding last week, skidding nearly 10 percent on a rumor that President Nelson Mandela had suffered a heart attack.

Analysts said the currency's drop showed how little confidence the outside world has in South Africa's political stability.

The rand, which in the early 1980s enjoyed parity with the dollar, fell below the psychological barrier of 25 cents on Wednesday, touching 24.8 cents, before recovering somewhat on Friday, to 25.8 cents. The South African central bank did not intervene to try to stop the slide, although it bought and sold small quantities of currency to keep the market liquid.

Reacting somewhat testily to the rand's plunge, officials in the government and in the ruling African National Congress suggested that racism still played a part in the way the world judges South Africa. But economists said the decline was also a response to market forces and that a cheaper rand might help the economy.